First California marlin tailwalks into boat

Dana Point angler Doug Bury tries to free an estimated 150- to 200-pound marlin's bill from the hatch of his boat after it jumped in the boat during a short battle with angler Chris Spillers.
Courtesy Photo

Dana Point angler Doug Bury tries to free an estimated 150- to 200-pound marlin's bill from the hatch of his boat after it jumped in the boat during a short battle with angler Chris Spillers.

California’s first marlin of the season was landed in spectacular fashion Wednesday less than 10 miles outside Dana Harbor, and the story behind the catch is one of those classic fishing tales.

Doug Bury, 39, of Dana Point, said he and his fishing buddy, Chris Spillers, were fishing off Dana Point Wednesday in his 17-foot Aquasport center console boat when Spillers hooked a marlin.

“When Chris first hooked it, the marlin made some beautiful jumps, just a beautiful display about 30 feet from the boat,” Bury said. “We’d already landed a 10- to 12-pound dorado at the spot, so we had a feeling there might be a marlin around. When he hooked it, though, we figured it would jump, and we’d get it close, but it would break off. It was about 20 feet from us when it made its first jumps, and then we were able to get most of the line back on the reel. We thought we’d get it close and it would break the line.”

Spillers was using a “fun rod,” a Shimano Calcutta 400 reel and a Seeker 196C rod that Bury and Spillers use mostly for calico bass, small dorado and yellowtail. The reel was loaded with 50-pound Power Pro backing, 20-pound test Berkley Big Game monofilament and a topshot of 20-pound Blackwater fluorocarbon tied to a 2/0 Owner flyline hook, baited with a sardine.

As Bury said, that’s not exactly marlin gear.

But the line didn’t break. When Spillers reeled the marlin closer to the boat, the big fish started tailwalking across the water.

“I made a joke that it might jump right into the boat with us, and all of a sudden it made a U-turn and came right at us,” Bury said. “Maybe it heard me . . . and before we had any chance to react, it jumped into the bow of the boat and got its bill stuck between the rod holder and the hatch. We couldn’t believe it, but it speared the hatch of the boat.”

Bury grabbed the marlin’s tail to control it and keep it from thrashing, and he tried to pull the marlin and its bill out of the hatch.

“I just did my best right away to get the bill unstuck, but it wouldn’t budge,” Bury said. “He broke up my hatch, and Chris moved in to grab it behind the dorsal fin to try and get it out. It took us three tries to get him out, and I thought for sure we were going to have to kill him. But we got him loose and then he started moving toward my fuel line and electrical wiring.”

Bury never let go of the tail during the entire ordeal, that he said really wasn’t much more than a couple minutes.

“I held the tail and have the bruises to prove it,” Bury said. “Once we got him free, he took me for a ride. Chris grabbed the bill end and I held onto the tail. I had the tail a bit higher, and that caused some problems getting it up over the 3-foot gunnel and into the water.”

Bury said he and Spillers watched the fish circle a few times, rise up for air and then swim off with a tale of his own to share.

“We did everything we could to keep from killing it,” Bury said. “We caught one on my boat a few years ago, and managed to let that one go, too. After this one swam away we just looked at each other and couldn’t believe what we just went through. The boat was a mess, with all kinds of slime, half-eaten flying fish and baits on the deck. But it didn’t really bleed at all. And the hatch was trashed.”

Bury said he now has a hole in his hatch that he likely won’t ever fix.

“I’m going to leave the hole in it and never fix it,” Bury said. “That hole there will be part of the great memory.”